Broadcast television has given rise to many related and ancillary industries. One such industry is the advertising industry. Advertising for television is a specialized industry that relies on past and present data to establish a value for advertisements displayed during a broadcast event. In order to support this advertising model, an entire industry exists to gather and analyse metrics of television viewership.
To this end, audiences are polled relative to their television viewing and statistics relating to viewership are determined. Similarly, each broadcast event such as a television show, television movie, a sporting event, etc., is reviewed to determine the advertisements within those broadcast events. Thus, the actual advertising content and the statistically analysed viewership are independently determined and verified by an organization to determine the metrics used to establish a value for advertisements. These metrics are typically referred to as “audited metrics” as their correctness is asserted by an independent metrics organization that asserts that it has verified the correctness thereof. One such metrics organization is the Nielsen Media Research™, which provides Nielsen® ratings that are, for the most part, audited.
A new medium into which advertising is now being inserted is the medium of video games. As a first generation of in-game advertisements, static product placements—product placements programmed into the game and that remain in the game each time it is played—were used. These first generation advertisements have metrics associated therewith calculated and gathered in a fashion similar to those for television viewership.
Presently, a next generation in game advertisement is being deployed. According thereto, product placements are inserted within video games dynamically such that each time a game is played, different advertisements may appear therein. Unfortunately, existing methods of determining metrics are not suited to function with these next generation in game advertisements. Problematically, the video games are not similar when played—different advertisements may be displayed in each; the video games are not played at a consistent time; and the video games are not played consistently by each player.
It would be advantageous to provide a method of determining metrics for next generation in game advertisements.